Finding Julie

Bruce Leach was out with his wife Wednesday night when he saw a small white-blonde dog running around on Grassy Point Road by the old gypsum plant.

Traffic kept them from turning around and he spent the night wracked with guilt that he hadn't caught and helped the pup.

"I was just so worried that a coyote or something would get the dog," Leach said.

So when he got a call about 1 p.m. about a dog on the model airplane field at the site of the old landfill from a member of the Hudson Valley Radio Control Club, of which Leach is the president, he was relieved.

"It's just a miracle," he said. "I couldn't believe that this dog had been missing for a year. God only knows how long the dog was on its own."

Leach said his wife took some food and water for the dog.

"The dog was a little wary and sketchy of people," Leach said. "You could tell that she wanted to be friendly but she was scared."

He said the dog eventually warmed up to them while they waited for animal control personnel.

When Claudia Terry, an animal control officer with the Haverstraw Police Department, got to the former landfill, she thought she recognized Julie from year-old missing posters.

"When I got there I remembered that there was a dog missing that looked like her," she said Thursday afternoon.

Terry said she called Julie's name but the dog didn't respond. She decided to call Julie's owners, Mercedes and Luis Alvarado and their daughter, Teresa, to find out if they recognized their missing pet.

"Being around the people when they came in and seeing the dog's reaction was just overwhelming," she said. "I was just so grateful. She was so excited."

She said this was a rare case, especially when so much time has passed. She has been with animal control since 2005.

"Something like that does not happen very often," Terry said. "Most of the time, the ones that get reunited are the ones that have tags."

She advised dog owners to always keep their pets on a leash and to call police if their pets go missing.

"I'm just very happy for the people," Leach said. "It must've been horrible for them. Thank God it worked out for the best."

Dog-gone goodbyes

Julie always loved to play outside. Any opportunity to get out into the grass was a treat and sometimes she would slip out unnoticed.

But she normally came home after a short while.

When Luis Alvarado let her out of the house last July to relieve herself, he didn’t think much of it, his wife said. But an hour later, Julie was nowhere to be found.

“Everybody in the neighborhood knows her,” Mercedes Alvarado said. “I was waiting for her to come back. She never came.”

She searched for Julie, talked to neighbors and tracked down leads, but to no avail. She had several false alarms and alleged sightings of her beloved pup, but she did not find her.

She tried to donate all of Julie’s stuff recently, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. They were also emotionally unable to get another dog after Julie went missing.

“You cannot just forget about her,” Mercedes Alvarado said. “My husband didn’t want to (get another dog). I think he was still heartbroken.”

And then she got the call that a dog that looked like Julie had been brought in by animal control.

“I saw her and she was wagging her tail,” Mercedes Alvarado said. “I wanted to hold her and see that it’s her. I was happy. I thought maybe she was not going to remember us, but she was happy to see us. And now she’s back home.”

There are still a lot of unanswered questions, but the Alvarados are just happy to have Julie home where she belongs.

“I wish I could hear where she’s been,” Mercedes Alvarado said. “I’m wondering where she was. Maybe when I wasn’t looking, I was close to her and I didn’t know.”

Homecoming

“She’s shy,” Mercedes Alvarado said Friday morning at her Garnerville home, about 2 miles from where Julie was found. “At first she was happy, running, but now she’s shy.”

Julie, 9, is a terrier mix. The family got her in July 2009 when she was a 6-month old puppy.

“I missed her a lot,” Teresa Alvarado said. “It felt empty. I was kind of alone. I was crying.”

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Teresa Alvarado, 17, with the family dog, Julie, at their Garnerville home on Friday. Julie was reported missing last July and was just found and returned.(Photo: John Meore/The Journal News)

Teresa Alvarado, 17, is a senior at North Rockland High School. Her family welcomed Julie when she was 8 years old.

Now that Julie is home, she plans to keep her close.

“I think I’ll take her into my room tonight,” she said. “I’m happy to have her back.”

When Julie came home, her hair was long, tangled and she had ticks. Mercedes Alvarado said she was told that Julie most likely had been outside and on her own for the past few days, but prior to that it was likely that a family had taken her in. She did not appear abused.

The Alvarados plan to take Julie to a groomer and a veterinarian to make sure she is OK. They also plan to have her tagged so this does not happen again.

“This time I will do it right,” Mercedes Alvarado said.

Julie doesn't wear a collar because she tries to bite it off.

Mercedes Alvarado said she figured any family who took her in would not want her because she was not well trained and liked to dig through the trash. But those issues never bothered the Alvarados.

“She’s family,” Mercedes Alvarado said. “It’s hard to have a dog like that … (but) I know her. I was thinking of her and I was praying to God, ‘Please, wherever she is, get them to treat her well, with love.' I want her last years to be happy and to be well and live with love.”